Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given the Prime Minister's tenacity in fighting for the job of the assistant health minister, and given the Prime Minister's failure to outline any plan to support Qantas workers today, why won't the Prime Minister stand up and fight for the 5,000 people who found out that they have lost their jobs, and why won't he fight for the rest of the jobs and for keeping Qantas majority Australian owned?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every single person in this House is concerned about the predicament that those 5,000 workers find themselves in. But the whole point of government is not to guarantee every single job—no government can do that. The point of being in office is not to run a chequebook government. The point of being in government is to get the fundamentals right, and that is what this government is trying to do. We want to get taxes down, we want to get to regulation down, we want to get productivity up—

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. I was not asking the Prime Minister to guarantee; I just want him do something and fight for jobs.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order, and that is an abuse of standing orders.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am fighting to ensure that Qantas gets a fair go. I am fighting to ensure that Qantas is not shackled by a $106 million carbon tax bill one year and a $168 million carbon tax bill the next year. I am fighting to ensure that as far as is humanly possible Qantas is operating on a level playing field, and the last thing that I want to do on a difficult and anxious day for Qantas is to make political capital out of the difficulty that this business finds itself in. That is the last thing I want to do.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Leader of the Opposition has asked a question and he is getting an answer!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I absolutely accept that Qantas would like the government's help. The help I am offering is to level the playing field and save Qantas from costs which it should not face. I invite the Leader of the Opposition to join with me and to give this great Australian icon the legislative help that it needs. That is what we should all be doing in this parliament today—giving this great Australian icon the legislative help that it needs. It is a difficult and anxious day for Qantas; there is no doubt about that. But our duty in this parliament is to ensure that Qantas is stronger tomorrow than it was yesterday, and that is what I am determined to do.